Cumin-roasted cauliflower and dates with tahini and pine nuts from Dining In: Highly Cookable Recipes (page 51) by Alison Roman

Ingredients

cumin seeds
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scallions
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EYB Comments

Can substitute white wine vinegar for sherry vinegar.

Where’s the full recipe - why can I only see the ingredients?

Always check the publication for a full list of ingredients. An Eat Your Books index lists the main ingredients and does not include 'store-cupboard ingredients' (salt, pepper, oil, flour, etc.) - unless called for in significant quantity.

Notes about this recipe

Eat Your Books

Can substitute white wine vinegar for sherry vinegar.
jessica_e8w974 on March 29, 2026

Oh yeah. For sure add dates at the end.
jessica_e8w974 on March 29, 2026

I’ve made this many times. It’s really, really good.
jacqueline_d7uiai on January 17, 2026

A regular on dinner rotation for a veg option
mindyb on January 12, 2025

I have made this a bunch of times, pretty flexible (can sub different herbs and nuts) and is great as part of a holiday dinner.
Sleeth on September 28, 2024

Tasty… good mix of ingredients, most of which came from my garden. I opted for pepitas instead of pine nuts since they were more affordable. I roasted the dates in a separate tray and watched them closely so they wouldn’t burn at such high heat.
Babycarrot on June 18, 2023

This is delicious! Should have read others notes about waiting to add the dates until the very end but it was fine. I also forgot the vinegar, whoops but I didn’t notice until I was rereading the ingredient list and it still tasted great without it but next time I will and there will be a next time I definitely will. Looking forward to seeing how the leftovers taste. Would be great also with a squeeze of lemon if one forgets the vinegar. I definitely tasted the cumin seeds and the seeds + dates was a whole new flavor which I enjoyed. I think one could scale down the pine nuts if desired but the crunch is very nice.
ginger2212 on February 15, 2022

The first time I made this - I didn't like it, but I realized the problem was my ingredients - dates were too hard and tahini didn't have the right drizzle. I made it again and it was perfection. Goes so well with shawarma or Ottolenghi's turkey & zucchini burgers.
snoozermoose on December 09, 2021

This was okay the first day, but delightful the second day cold right out of the fridge. The flavors really popped after it had a night to rest, and the dates added the perfect sweetness. My husband hated the tahini sauce the first day and refused to eat the leftovers. His loss!
ChelseaP on May 22, 2021

Such an amazing recipe. I could eat a whole bowl of it on its own. The tahini merging with the cauliflower and dates was so good. And the pine nut herb mix on top makes the dish. My only note is to add the dates right near the end because mine also got a bit too charred than I’d have liked.
KarinaFrancis on May 13, 2020

I’m a big fan of cauliflower salads and this is no exception. I took MelMM advice and quartered the dates which was meant more little pops of sweetness. I also had a very large cauliflower so the cumin didn’t really come through, I’ll add more next time.
damjih on April 09, 2020

This was just ok, then I ate the cauliflower the next day without the tahini, and just mixed it up in a bowl with the salad mix and it improved by quite a bit.
MelMM on January 31, 2019

9-10-2018 I made this mostly as written. Starting with tahini and salt. It took every ounce of willpower I had not add lemon juice to that tahini! But I kept telling myself that the herb salad going on top had plenty of acid. One place I did deviate was the dates. I decided to chop the dates a bit (into quarters or sixths) and soak the pieces in bourbon. My thinking was that this would plump them up and keep them from burning. It worked somewhat. The pieces of date were like cubes of caramel mixed with the cauliflower. The herb dressing did provide enough acid for the whole dish, so I ended up being OK with no lemon in the tahini. Interesting dish. It was really very good, by far our favorite from the book so far.
L.Nightshade on September 01, 2018

I made this for a crowd, so tripled the recipe. Figured the tahini sauce would be lost at the bottom of the deep roasting pan, so more or less layered it, and saved a bit to drizzle across the top. Next time I'd hold off on adding the dates, as they were a bit more burnt than caramelized with the times stated.
Lepa on December 21, 2017

This was delightful. This was a rare recipe when the roasting time for the cauliflower was perfect. The dates were a great counterpoint- and delicious roasted! The accompanying herbs/nut vinaigrette brought the tastes together perfectly. I did share this with my family but I couldn't help myself and ate most of it. I should note that I was not sure if ground cumin or seeds were called for so I opted for ground and do not regret that decision.